Caffeinated Clint
Damon Herriman has a very recognizable face. He’s ‘That Guy’ from TV’s “Love My Way”, “Brides of Christ” and “All Saints”, ‘Oh, Him’ from “The Big Steal”, “Praise” and “Ned”. But you can forget about spotting him in his latest role – as a sinister redneck in the horror movie “House of Wax” – he doesn’t quite look himself.
“They probably couldn’t find an American willing to look that ugly!” laughs the affable actor, when asked how he got the role. In fact, Herriman is the lone Australian in the cast. “They screen tested people for all the roles out here as well as in the States. I was pretty lucky I suppose because in the end they went with Americans in all the featured roles apart from mine”.
Among those Americans, full-time celeb Paris Hilton. So just how annoying was she? “Who?? Oh, Paris, yeah. Actually I don’t have a bad word to say about her. She was so lovely to me and I think is a genuinely nice person. She’s certainly not stupid as some people tend to think. She struck me as very aware of her situation and the way she was perceived. And I kind of respected the fact that she didn’t pretend to shun attention when she was in public like most celebrities do. If she was at a night club she would dance for the crowd on the highest podium. They loved it and she loved it. I thought that was pretty cool”.
In addition, Herriman was impressed with the crew. “The cast and producers were pretty much the only Americans on set. I have to say they were all really nice. I noticed that the American producers were sitting there watching the video split the whole time, whereas here you don’t necessarily have the producer looking over your shoulder constantly”.
Don’t ask Damon Herriman how the remake compares to the original Vincent Price starring horror flick though – he’s never seen it. “Do you know, I haven’t. It’s meant to be really good. I probably would’ve been more keen to see it if this one was an actual remake but really apart from the basic premise, it’s an entirely different story.”
His character is quite novel. “I play a filthy, inbred, "Deliverance" style truck driver who collects road kill for a living. In true horror film style the clean-cut youngsters come across him just after their car has broken down, and he kindly offers them a lift. What a nice chap!” he laughs.
“House of Wax” is merely one of several big-budget American productions to pick Australia as it’s cheap but effective filming locale. Many local actors hate the gatecrashing, but Herriman thinks it’s a good thing. “It’s great! I don’t think there would be too many Aussie actors complaining about it. For a start, it’s work”, he says, adding “Plus it gives opportunities for actors to experience working on bigger budget movies than they’re likely to work on here. And usually international exposure. So I can’t see a lot wrong with it”.
Herriman made his film debut in the 1990 comedy hit “The Big Steal”, and says he still has fond memories of the experience. “That was the first film I ever did and I was so over the moon when I got it. I was a big fan of "Malcolm" so getting to work with Nadia Tass and David Parker was pretty damn exciting. It was just lots of fun. Great cast and a brilliant script. I’m working with Claudia for the first time in 15 years on "Love My Way" which has been awesome. And I just saw Ben [Mendelsohn] in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. I think we’re all pretty proud of that film. People still come up and say that it’s their favourite Aussie movie which is a pretty cool thing.”
“Love My Way” has been an outstanding success on Fox8. Herriman’s looking forward to filming the new batch of episodes. “[We’re] about to start shooting its second series. Really looking forward to that. The scripts look like they’re going to be just as good as the first lot so that’s exciting”.
Film wise, he’ll next appear in “Candy” with Heath Ledger. “I shot that a couple of months ago. It’s just a couple of scenes but they’re good ones. That was a nice job because I got to work with Neil Armfield who I’d worked with a couple of times on stage. It’s a really terrific script and I think with Neil at the helm and the amazing cast he’s pulled together it should be something quite special.”
Lately, he’s been spending some time in America, hoping to be the next big Aussie export. His first taste of fame was at the U.S premiere for “House of Wax”. “It was huge! I’ve never seen so many photographers in my life. The line just kept going and going. I just kept thinking "who do all these guys work for? There can’t be THAT much work – they’re all taking the same photos!!" And they kept calling out "Damon! Damon!" It was so funny because of course they had no idea who I was. They just knew I was in the film so they better get a photo to cover their arses!”
HOUSE OF WAX is now showing across Australia
– CLINT MORRIS
